*No provision for compensation under any scheme
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 3: Apart from displacement from their respective villages, thousands of farmers from border areas are all set to face severe economic losses due to their inability to harvest the standing bumper crop owing to continuous unprovoked heavy shelling and firing from across the border by the Pakistani Rangers. Astonishingly, there is no provision under any scheme to provide compensation for the crop loss under such circumstances.
Reports from areas along the International Border in Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts said that though soon after the start of shelling and firing from across the border farmers started cutting the standing paddy crop haphazardly but they failed to complete the harvesting due to intensified shelling by the Pakistani Rangers, which forced them to migrate to safer areas by leaving their bumper crop unattended.
“Due to inability of the farmers to go back to their villages to harvest the bumper crop because of continuous hostilities between India and Pakistan, the standing crop has started suffering damage due to shelling and firing and even otherwise”, reports said, adding “in this way after dislocation, severe economic crisis is also looming large over the farmers of border areas of Jammu, Samba and Kathua as their livelihood is entirely dependent on the crop”.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that this year the farmers of border belts of these three districts will not get any reward of their six months long hard work in the fields and they will virtually face starvation even if the situation permits them to go back to their respective villages in the coming days. “Even the non-local labourers, who are generally engaged by the farmers for cutting the crop in a time-bound manner, are not available following eruptions of war like situation on the border”, they added.
The intensity of the economic losses looming large over thousands of farmers can be gauged from the figures of the Agriculture Department, which has conducted sub-division and block wise detailed survey through its field functionaries in border areas of Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts about the area affected by shelling and firing from across the border by Pakistan.
As per the official figures, a total of 17,742 hectares of area having standing paddy crop has been affected due to shelling and firing by the Pakistani Rangers. The majority of the affected area falls in Jammu district followed by Samba and Kathua districts.
In Jammu district, the farmers could not harvest crop on 13,322 hectares of land in Arnia, Suchetgarh, R S Pura, Mandal, Marh, Khour, Akhnoor, Samwan and Pargwal blocks while as in Samba district standing crop on 3770 hectares has remained unattended till date and in Kathua district crop on 650 hectares of land has been affected due to shelling and firing. In Kathua and Samba districts, the most affected areas are Hiranagar, Madeen, Rajpora and Ramgarh.
According to the figures, crop on over 45% area has been affected in Arnia, Suchetgarh, R S Pura, Samwan and Pargwal blocks. “Though the farmers have saved their lives from the shelling and firing by timely migrating from their respective areas but they are unable to find any solution to severe economic losses which are lurking over their heads in the absence of returns from their bumper crop”, sources said while highlighting their plight.
“Keeping in view bumper crop this season they had made several plans to improve their living standards and meet immediate requirements but failure to harvest the crop has dashed all their hopes”, sources said.
When contacted, Director Agriculture Jammu, Ashok Malhotra confirmed that bumper crop on 17,742 hectares of land in three border districts of Jammu, Samba and Kathua has been affected due to shelling and firing from across the border. “The prevailing situation has virtually broken the backbone of the farmers as they were expecting huge returns this season in view of bumper crop”, he added.
Astonishingly, there is no provision under any scheme either of State or Union Government under which these farmers can be given compensation for the crop loss under the prevailing circumstances.
“Under the Security Related Expenditure, which is borne by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, compensation is given for damage to the houses, loss of life or injury or permanent disability but there is no provision for providing compensation for the standing crop damaging due to shelling and firing from across the border”, sources said.
“It is surprising that such a situation erupted a number of times in the past when farmers could not harvest their crop due to hostilities between India and Pakistan but nobody ever seriously pondered over the issue of providing compensation for damage to the crop”, sources regretted.
“If the State or the Central Government fail to consider this aspect that would amount to rubbing the salt on the wounds of the border farmers who frequently get dislocated due to such hostilities”, sources remarked.
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